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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Upton Warren (12 Viewers)

Jon - EN are saying what can and cannot be done with regard to the phragmites. Not sure what their stance may be on this method, but you'd need a couple of acres of black plastic 😱

got to to be easier than digging them out :eek!:

hopefully something can be sorted soon
 
Flashes Feeding Station

To clarify the situation at this side of the reserve. We traditionally stop feeding after the winter at the Flashes. The Moors feeding station is all-year round.
There are are several reasons for the cessation of the Flashes FStn in March.

Firstly - the cost:
although we are donated the food by a well known supplier (I will get name later). We are only allowed a certain amount per year. This would not stretch to support 2 'full time' feeding stations.

secondly - Facilities:
We have better facilities at the Moors. ie 2 well placed hides. That provide plenty of room for many people to watch and take photo's. The Flashes 'cuckoo' hide has room for 3 people to watch, and the window flaps open outwards causing disturbance. The hide itself is less than adequate and to quote several photographers too distant for photos. The area at the Flashes also floods very easily and access to the feeders can be dangerous.

thirdly - access and storage:
With so much food needed to keep the feeding going, we need to store large quantities close at hand. We have two storage areas at the Moors, but just a plastic barrel at the Flashes - which needs filling every week or so. We therefore need to carry sacks of food down to the Flashes on a regular basis, which can be difficult at times.

Fourthly - volunteers:
At the Moors Bobby P and Vern do the feeding daily. At the Flashes Bob O and occasionally myself do it when we visit, but that is not everyday. The birding is much better at the Moors during the winter, so we tend to visit that site more often. The Flashes freezes easily, so on many days no one visits that site, thus no one to do the feeders.

and finally - disturbance:
A major reason for no feeding after the winter, is the disturbance to breeding birds. The Moors feeders are just in front of the hide and the feeders can be filled rapidly. At the Flashes we have to walk out past the sluice gate, this causes the nearby breeding BHG's to respond by flying over us and alarming. This causes consternation amongst the other breeders and many birds take flight.
So weighing up the pro's and cons we continue feeding only at the Moors.

You might be thinking that this is a bit of a random topic, but it is in response to a cheap jibes put in the Flashes log book recently.
which basically read, words to the effect of- " why no food in the feeders!" if I had bought a £3 permit I would not be happy!!!.
Hopefully those people will read this and it may help them understand more clearly on what is involved in the running of just a small aspect of the reserve. Maybe next time they could make a more positive contribution in the log book and enjoy the 100's of birds in front of the hides.
You can't please all the people all of the time...It just goes to show, with so much positivity going on at the reserve you always get some one who can't be pleased. Must be a great person to take to a party8-P john

https://twitter.com/upstarts1979
 
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Nice one John.......I will be sending an email to the trust as I go to Feckenham to catch up on my sleep and was kept awake by incessant noises from birds.....mind you it doesn't happen a lot....LOL


On the subject of the remarkable image yesterday...... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31711446 .......I hear there was another much larger Weasel around so the Woody was lucky as it was "the lesser of the two weasels".......
 
Has anyone else seen this rather hen pecked looking Robin by the conc hide? Found him last night.
 

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Nice one John.......I will be sending an email to the trust as I go to Feckenham to catch up on my sleep and was kept awake by incessant noises from birds.....mind you it doesn't happen a lot....LOL


On the subject of the remarkable image yesterday...... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31711446 .......I hear there was another much larger Weasel around so the Woody was lucky as it was "the lesser of the two weasels".......
Made me laugh out loud!3:)3:)3:)
 
Geoff - sadly cutting phragmites only serves to invigorate the growth, which is not really what we want. What is needed is a realistic long-term approach to eradicating phragmites across much of the area at the Flashes, especially around the second flash shore-line and to prevent it spreading into and across the field in front of the sewage works. The cattle experiment, whilst having had a very beneficial effect on the grassland areas (no mowing required yesterday|:D|) had no effect on the phraggy. EN (or NE?) are reluctant to allow chemical treatment, which leaves excavation as, in my opinion the only viable quickish solution. We could of course leave the reed-bed to its own devices and hope it dries out through lack of management. However this would lead to colonisation by scrub and, eventually, trees - also not desirable. There is a suggestion from EN that lowering the water-levels would help, but I'm not overly convinced unless they have case studies that support this.

If the Phragmites had been cut then there would have been nesting areas for waders for a few months at least and later some delicious reed regrowth for the cattle (if left to mature it becomes tough and unpalatable). Goats will also eat reed.
https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/Phragmites_australis.html
 
Today's highlights:

MOORS:
Little Egret (3)------------------Snipe (c20)
Oystercatcher (4)---------------Lapwing (c100)
Shoveler (48)-------------------Gadwall (4)
Pochard (5)---------------------Tufted Duck (42)
Shelduck (4)--------------------Teal (18)
Cormorant (41)-----------------Little Grebe (3)
G C Grebe (4)-------------------Kestrel
Grey Wagtail--------------------Common Gull (2w)
Herring Gull (2)-----------------Redwing/Fieldfare (c70). Predominantly Fieldfare.
Mute Swan (2)------------------Cetti's Warbler (2)

FLASHES: a.m only
Avocet (17)----------------------Curlew (18)
Lapwing (c100)------------------Green Sand (1 reported)
Snipe (6)-------------------------Shelduck (5)
Shoveler (9)---------------------Teal (3)
B H Gull (c200)

SAILING POOL:
G C Grebe (3)-------------------Tufted Duck (12)
Mute Swan (2)


Des.
 
If the Phragmites had been cut then there would have been nesting areas for waders for a few months at least and later some delicious reed regrowth for the cattle (if left to mature it becomes tough and unpalatable). Goats will also eat reed.
https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/Phragmites_australis.html

hi Geoff.. a couple of years ago we cut the reeds. In the spring lapwing nested in the cut areas but the reeds grew up rapidly. The lapwing abandoned the nedt when the reed were less than a foot tall.
 
If the Phragmites had been cut then there would have been nesting areas for waders for a few months at least and later some delicious reed regrowth for the cattle (if left to mature it becomes tough and unpalatable). Goats will also eat reed.
https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/Phragmites_australis.html

hi Geoff.. a couple of years ago we cut the reeds. In the spring lapwing nested in the cut areas but the reeds grew up rapidly. The lapwing abandoned the nedt when the reed were less than a foot tall.

Last year the reeds were cut on the west side with the express intention of providing new growth for cattle to feed and keep down or reduce the reeds. Unfortunately the cattle didn't buy in to this option, but did keep breeding waders out of the area whilst not eating the new growth. Possibly would work with different cattle species (or goats) or in a larger area. I haven't read extensive literature on this myself so can only comment on what I've seen at Upton. Whatever route is decided upon by EN it needs to be done soon before the reed-beds become even more extensive.
 
This may be insignificant but does anyone want to comment on this Cormorant's gular angle? This was one of 28 on the main Moors pool this morning.
 

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Standard carbo by the looks of that.
 

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Moors today - 4 Little Egrets snoozing.

There were 3 (possibly 4) at the John Bennett reserve yesterday, but they were so active it was difficult to keep tabs on them!
 

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Sequence:
Great Crested Grebes mating beside Pool Island
1 & 2 Female repeatedly lay flat, as if dead for some time, then arched upwards. This went on for some minutes.
3. 4 & 5 A new method of changing places
 

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Moors today - 4 Little Egrets snoozing.

There were 3 (possibly 4) at the John Bennett reserve yesterday, but they were so active it was difficult to keep tabs on them!

What time were the Egrets at John Bennett, because three went missing from Upton yesterday afternoon.

Des.
 
What time were the Egrets at John Bennett, because three went missing from Upton yesterday afternoon.

Des.
They were there between 14:00 & 16:00.
Two of the three birds were in full summer splendour - see below. The other one I'm not sure about - more elusive.

The latest hide book entries for 25th & 28th Feb show three present and 2nd March shows four. I think they are more or less resident.

UW egrets are good at hiding and I have also seen them disappear into the trees near the west Moors hide for some time.

Margaret
 

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